The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for generating a pool of seeds for a central determination gaming system. The majority of the contemporary wagering gaming devices, such as slot machines, randomly generate awards and other outcomes. Such gaming devices typically include a relatively low probability associated with obtaining the highest award, relatively medium probabilities associated with obtaining medium range awards and relatively higher probabilities associated with obtaining low range awards. These gaming machines also include probabilities associated with obtaining losses or no award at all. The probabilities of obtaining the awards and the amount of the awards determine the average expected pay out percentage of these wagering gaming machines. Because the outcomes of these gaming devices are completely randomly determined, there is no certainty that a player will ever obtain any particular award. That is, no matter how many times a player plays the game, since the gaming device generates outcomes randomly or completely based upon a probability calculation, there is no certainty that the game will ever provide the player with a rare outcome, such as a jackpot award, or any other specific value for that matter. On the other hand, due to the random determination, the gaming machine can provide the rare outcomes, such as jackpot awards, numerous times in a small number of plays.
This uncertainty is faced by players and casinos or other gaming establishments. For example, certain casinos prefer that a relatively high number of players hit low awards while a relatively low number of players hit high awards. When players hit high awards periodically, casinos attract more players, because of the positive publicity large wins generate. By using desired payback percentages or probabilities, the casinos can also expect to make a certain level of profit. The random determinations can, however, unexpectedly cause casinos to suffer a loss or, on the other hand, to reap great profit in the short run and lose business in the long run due to a reputation for only paying out low awards.
Regulatory bodies in certain jurisdictions do not permit the use of probability-based gaming devices in-part for these reasons. These regulatory bodies permit the use of wagering gaming devices which are guaranteed to provide certain or definite awards, so that, for example, a certain number of wins is guaranteed and the overall amount paid back to players is guaranteed. That is, the payback percentage is fixed and not an average expected amount. One type of gaming device which complies with this requirement is an instant-type lottery gaming machine. An instant-type lottery gaming machine includes a finite pool or set of electronic tickets with each electronic ticket assigned to a predetermined outcome. Each predetermined outcome may for instance include a win/loss component and a value component. A value could include any positive number of credits or currency units, zero credits or currency units or any negative number of credits or currency units. Alternatively, each electronic ticket could be assigned to a predetermined number seed. Each number seed is deterministic of a predetermined outcome. That is, the gaming machine utilizes the number seed in a random number generator to generate random numbers that the gaming machine then uses to determine and provide the predetermined outcome. In an instant-type lottery gaming machine, as the predetermined outcome for each electronic ticket is revealed to a player on the gaming machine, the ticket is removed (i.e., flagged as used) from the finite pool or set of electronic tickets. Once removed from the pool or set, a ticket cannot be used again to determine another game outcome. This type of gaming machine provides players with all of the available outcomes over the course of the play cycle and guarantees the actual wins and losses.
Since an instant-type lottery gaming machine has a finite pool of predetermined win/loss outcomes, it is possible to configure the pool to specific conditions or criteria requested by the casino or gaming establishment. An example of these conditions or criteria are the number of tickets included in the pool and the exact payback percentage or payback sum for the pool as a whole. The payback percentage or sum represents the guaranteed payout for the entire pool of predetermined outcomes. Other examples of conditions or criteria are what prizes will be awarded and the frequency of winning outcome tickets amongst the total number of tickets for the pool. For example, if a predetermined pool includes twenty $1 tickets and the pool has a payback sum of $10, then the pool might consist of one $5 win outcome, one $2 win outcome, three $1 win outcomes and fifteen $0 loss outcomes and may be represented as the following outcomes: 5, 2, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0. It should be appreciated that the above described pool of twenty tickets is for illustration purposes only and a pool could include any suitable desired number of tickets including a large number such as one million or more.
Even though a pool may contain more than one of the same game outcome (i.e., the loss or the win and if a win, the value), the presentation to the player (such as reel stops in the case of slot machines or simulated slot machines, cards dealt or drawn in the case of simulated card games and the like) is preferably varied for each sequential game outcome. For example, in the twenty ticket pool described above, while three game outcomes may each determine a win game outcome with a value of $1, in a slot machine type game each game outcome will be preferably presented to the player as multiple different or all different winning combinations of reel symbols.
Additionally, central determination gaming systems are generally known. A central determination gaming system provides a plurality of individual gaming terminals, located in a gaming establishment, such as a casino, coupled by one or more communication links, to a central processor or computing system. When a player plays a game on one of the gaming terminals, the game outcome is communicated from the central system to individual gaming terminals and then provided to the player.
In order to comply with the above mentioned regulatory rules that do not permit the use of probability-based gaming devices, central determination gaming systems have been implemented wherein the central system maintains one or more predetermined pools or sets of game outcomes. Additionally, certain central determination gaming systems have been implemented wherein the central system maintains one or more predetermined pools or sets of random number seeds. The use of random number seeds reduces the computational load on the central processor of the central determination gaming systems. In these systems, when a player makes a wager on one of the gaming terminals, the central system selects a seed used for determining the game outcome, marks the selected seed as used and communicates the selected seed to that individual gaming terminal. The individual gaming terminal utilizes the seed to determine the predetermined game outcome. Once a seed is used, it is removed (or prevented from further selection) from the predetermined pool or set and cannot be selected by the central processor upon another wager. It should be appreciated that as players are continuously playing the gaming terminals in a central determination gaming system and a central processor may run hundreds or thousands of individual gaming terminals at once, a pool of outcomes (or a pool of number seeds) for a particular game may include millions of predetermined outcomes (or seeds). Further considering that a plurality of different types of games of different denominations may be played on the thousands of individual gaming terminals and each different game and/or denomination requires it's own pool of outcomes (or seeds), it is contemplated that the central processor may select game outcomes from hundreds of pools of outcomes (or seeds), each including millions of outcomes (or seeds). Therefore, it should be appreciated that central determination gaming systems have substantial data storage needs.
There are a number of advantages to providing for centralized production seeds which are used for determining game outcomes at individual terminals. Central production or control can assist a casino or other entity in maintaining appropriate records, controlling gaming, reducing and preventing cheating or electronic or other errors, reducing or eliminating win-loss volatility and the like. However, one problem with central determination gaming systems is the constant and continuous need to provide accurate validated pools of seeds for use by the central determination gaming system.